Dr. Djoudalbaye Benjamin, MD, MSc. MPH, Pg. Dipl. Infectious Diseases is Head of Policy and Health Diplomacy at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention with over 20 years of experience in Public Health in Africa. He is also the Acting Coordinator of the Africa CDC Regional Coordination Centre for Central Africa in Libreville, Gabon. He was appointed in May 2020 as Executive Secretary of the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund. Before that, he was Senior Health Officer for over eight years for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and other Infectious Diseases at the African Union Commission.
Dr Djoudalbaye was the Head of the Mission of the African Union Support to the Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from May 2017 to October 2018. He was also the Head of Mission Support for African Union Support to Ebola in West Africa (ASEOWA) and later Head of Mission in 2014-2015 for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
He has strong professional experience in strategic planning, administration, management and evaluation of public health policies and programs, infectious diseases programmes and projects, capacity building and operational research in Africa. He also has good knowledge of coordination mechanisms, including multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral teams, partnership development, negotiation skills, advocacy and resource mobilization, multilateral and bilateral cooperation, public & private sector, and civil society.
He holds a Medical Degree from the University Abdou Moumouni of Niamey (Niger). He is specialized in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology (University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France), Classic Sexual Transmitted Infections, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproduction Health (University Denis Diderot Paris 7, France) and Epidemiology & Biostatistics (University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France). He also holds a Master’s Degree in Population Studies and Public Health from the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in collaboration with the University of Montreal (Canada).
Dr Djoudalbaye is the author and co-author of several peer-reviewed scientific articles and has published a book on psychiatry.